Integrated circuits are widely used in consumer, commercial and other applications. As is well known to those having skill in the art, many integrated circuits include fuse structures that may be used to selectively enable or disable portions of the integrated circuit and/or to personalize the integrated circuit. For example, in integrated circuit memory devices, fuse structures may be used to substitute redundant memory cells for defective memory cells. A conventional fuse structure includes an elongated fuse pattern having substantially a bar shape. Generally, an upper face of the fuse pattern is exposed. When a laser is irradiated onto the fuse pattern, the fuse pattern may boil. Thereafter, the fuse pattern may be exploded so that the fuse pattern may be cut. Thus, a current flowing through the conventional fuse pattern may be cut off.
FIG. 1 is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) picture showing a conventional fuse structure having a fuse pattern that is cut.
As shown in FIG. 1, a laser is irradiated onto a target region of the fuse pattern so that the fuse pattern may be cut. In this case, fractures of the target region may spatter widely so that the fracture may be attached to the remaining portion of the fuse pattern. In addition, the fracture may be attached to a wire pattern adjacent to the fuse pattern. As a result, the fracture may generate an electric short between the wire patterns.